The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Maharashtra government and Adani Properties on a petition filed by UAE-based Seclink Technologies challenging the government’s decision to cancel its 2019 bid for the redevelopment of Dharavi slums and issue a fresh tender in 2022 to Adani.
Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar declined an oral request for a status quo order on the project.
The bench entertained the plea after Seclink said it would increase its offer of Rs 7,200 crore by 20 per cent. The Court then ordered Seclink to file an affidavit in this regard and listed the matter for hearing on May 25.
The Court noted that a higher bid than the previous highest bidder has been made which would mean Rs 1,000 crore towards lease and Rs 2,800 crore towards indemnity. It noted in its order that a fresh affidavit should be filed since the petitioner has agreed to meet all other obligations.
In December 2024, the Bombay High Court had upheld the State’s decision to cancel Seclink’s 2019 bid for the redevelopment of Dharavi slums and issue a fresh tender in 2022 in favour of Adani. Seclink had then approached the Apex Court.
Senior Advocate Aryama Sundaram represented Seclink. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta represented the Maharashtra government and Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for Adani.
After Rohatgi argued today that equipment worth hundreds of crores has already been bought by Adani, the Court ordered it to maintain an escrow account for all the payments.
Before the High Court, Seclink had challenged the government’s decision, seeking to overturn the cancellation of its winning Rs 7,200 crore bid for the Dharavi redevelopment project.
The government had annulled the original tender and initiated a fresh bidding process in 2022, ultimately awarding the contract to the Adani Group company.
The company had initially emerged as the highest bidder in 2019, trumping Adani’s Rs 4,539 crore bid.
However, in 2022, the Maharashtra government decided to modify the project by incorporating 45 acres of railway land to facilitate slum rehabilitation. This additional land had not been included in the original tender proposal. Consequently, the State government scrapped the 2019 tender and initiated a fresh auction in 2022.
In its defence, the Maharashtra government maintained that the decision to revise the tender was neither arbitrary nor intended to benefit any particular entity.